


Here We Plant Our Roots

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Best Friends, Gen, Prompt Fill, Short & Sweet, Tree Climbing, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 17:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19750408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Questions answered between two best friends and the treetops.-challenge: use the words yellow, deeply, and high





	Here We Plant Our Roots

**Author's Note:**

> alt summary: two friends chilling in the forest bc theyre lesbian/bi solidarity 
> 
> anyway i've decided only to acknowledge st3 if it's abt steve and robin so here's my first stranger things fic lmao

"Harrington, I'm not going into the woods with you."

Robin stood with her arms over her chest and her head tipped in a way that begged the question of if Steve was out of his mind. 

He wasn't, which left him with plenty of time to try and not to be offended at the fact that she looked cooler leaned up against his car than he could ever dream of looking.

His hands flexed in the air in front of him, waving slightly. "It's not the- we're not going _into_ the woods!" he shot back, hands reaching for his hair before he thought better of it and back-tracked them to the abstract.

"Really? Because it sounds like you're asking me to go into the woods with you."

"Robin. When have I ever steered you wrong?"

She bit her lip to keep from grinning, her hands tucked around her sides suddenly bunching into the yellow fabric of her t-shirt. "Do you want an itemized list?"

"Okay, one: shut up."

"Two?" she asked, brow quirking.

" _C'mon,_ " he whined, eyes taught and head tilting back. "It's worth it, Scout's Honor."

She rolled her eyes as he tipped the wrong amount of fingers up at her, but pushed off the car all the same. "Okay, fine. Lead the way, Cap'n."

There were worse ways to spend her Saturday off, she knew, than with Steve Harrington while he tried his hand at genuine article friendship.

He grinned at her, something about _told you I'd convince you,_ rolling out of his mouth as he motioned her to follow him. She put on her best showing of reluctance, but followed along without much more of a fight. 

She was, after all, curious. And a little happy that he wanted to hang out despite the fact that they'd already spent five days together at work that week. She hadn't exactly made a ton of other friends, so she'd like to hold on to the ones she had.

They trailed together around the side of his house, a perfectly normal two-story with white siding and black shutters and an overwhelming Stepford vibe that made Robin want to give it an extra few feet of berth, and into the backyard.

There was a scrawny tree on the far side of the property that coughed leaves at the slightest breeze and shucked bark if you looked at it wrong, and a derelict swingset just beside that. 

She couldn't say that she was surprised by any of it--maybe a bit sad, if anything. It was all overwhelmingly normal and so not Steve.

"Okay," he muttered as they came to a stop in front of the tree line. "So, we do totally have to go into the woods, but it's five feet at most."

She _hmm_ ed, but motioned him ahead anyway. She had survived much worse than some overgrown oak trees and the occasional patch of poison ivy.

Steve crashed forward with practiced precision, his footsteps at first seeming nonsensical until she followed behind him and recognized the edges of a wellworn path. They curved around a few thickets, kicking through bushes, and crying out when the occasional blue jay darted out of the brush.

"Steve," she said a few minutes later as he peeked around a vine-covered trunk. "Did you, by any chance, fail any or all of your math classes?"

He shot a pursed-lip look over shoulder. "Okay, so I undershot it. We're almost there."

It was lucky for him she took his word on most things.

It was lucky for her he had actually meant what he said, and they soon came to a final stop.

"This's the one," he said, patting something she could just barely make out to have once upon a time been carved deeply into the bark.

When she didn't say anything, he added, "I'll go first."

"Mm, you're a charmer."

He ignored her, taking his stance at the base of the healthiest tree they'd seen yet before resting a sneakered foot at the very base of it. 

Taking two steps back, Robin watched in muffled amusement as he tried three times to make it up the tree trunk, failing more spectacularly each time.

"All right, dingus, let me show you how it's really done. Not to brag, but I was Little Miss Spruce Scaler three years running."

"Really?"

"No!" she laughed, already clambering over to the branch she'd seen him eyeballing. Bracing her hands on either side of herself, she leaned forward enough to meet his eyes. "But I should've been!"

With the renwed vigor of a teenage boy with a good sense of humor and something to prove, Steve set back at his task, eventually hauling himself up high for Robin to grab his hand and tug him over to sit beside her.

"Don't go jumping ship, okay?" she said as he wobbled slightly.

"I've got it."

"Uh huh, where have I heard that before?"

" _Look at that view!_ " he cried hastily, hands swatting to indicate that before them. "Really breathtaking."

She snorted, but followed his direction anyway.

The Harringtons lived in the suburbs, no doubt about it, but from here, she could almost forget it. They were high enough up that the air smelled different and the world ceased to be anything other than a wonder. Rarely, if ever, was she speechless, but now she couldn't find a single remark.

There were a few more feet trees ahead of them, but through their sloping branches, the edges of a cornfield could be seen, lit gold and brushed with a breeze they didn't feel.

"Steve," she started, something tight in her chest.

"Uh, I found this place when I was ten, I think?" he started unsteadily. "My parents fought a lot then--before the divorce, y'know? And you can only turn your music up so loud, so I came out to the woods one night and kinda claimed it. Far enough I couldn't hear them, but I could hear the dinner bell."

Her lips curved into a sad smile, nodding with a soft understaning. 

"I've never told anyone about this place. I don't, uh, I don't think I've ever really had anyone I could trust with it," he explained, voice trailing off.

He shoved a hand through his hair, fingers disappearing into the thick recesses like a baby with a pacifier.

"But," he said finally, looking up at her with a hopeful glint to his face. "What are best friends for, right?"

It took a second for the words to sink in, but when they did she grinned over at him, a big, uninhibited thing.

"Yeah," she said softly, and they both turned back to watch the wind go across the field.

**Author's Note:**

> me: not to have hcs abt my own fic but steve showed this place to robin as an offering for if she ever needed a quiet place to just exist
> 
> im on tumblr @foxmulldr !! send me requests with a char/fandom/ship + 3 words and you'll probably get one of these bad boys


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